EDITORIAL: People need ability to trust in government

Published: Friday, June 14, 2013 at 06:10 PM.

This isn’t a matter of unclear procedures. A few new paragraphs in the policy manual won’t handle it. Everyone already knew that it’s wrong to single out one group of people for ideological reasons. Nobody needs a regulatory update to understand that.

And worse, there appears to be a pattern of misusing government power. The Department of Justice’s surveillance of news reporters and its seizing of their telephone records goes beyond any steps the government has previously taken.

It claims to be looking for the source of classified leaks. But Justice Department officials could just as easily be using that as cover to hassle whistleblowers who give the news media information the public ought to know.

Scandals are nothing new and neither is misusing government power for political purposes. But before, it’s all been left inside the beltway. This time, more than just political elites are targeted.

When government uses its power to harass, intimidate and bully average citizens, it isn’t just a political scandal. It’s oppression.

“We must have the trust of the American taxpayer,” Werfel said. “Unfortunately, that trust has been broken.”

And it won’t be restored again until people are sure their government isn’t their enemy.

Timing might not be everything, but it’s definitely important, and the timing couldn’t have been worse for Internal Revenue Service Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel last week.

Having hardly warmed the chair in his new office, Werfel was sent to the U.S. House of Representatives appropriations subcommittee to ask for more money for his agency.

Now it’s bad enough that the first time some House members ever saw him, he was asking them for money.

But he was asking a Republican-dominated group to give more money to an agency that just got busted for targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. On top of that, he’s asking Republican deficit hawks for more money just after some of the agency’s lavish spending habits on travel and conferences were revealed.

It gets even better. The Obama administration wants the money so the agency can implement, wait for it, Obama-care. Dare we call it mission impossible? At least President Barack Obama knows if the guy didn’t quit after giving him that marching order, he’s no coward.

“The agency stands ready to confront the problems that occurred, hold accountable those who acted inappropriately, be open about what happened and permanently fix these problems so that such missteps do not occur again,” Werfel told congressmen, according to The Associated Press.

Well now, if we could wrap all that up in a bow, it would be just grand. Werfel makes it sound downright simple. But anybody who knows about bureaucracy and its ability to stonewall and obfuscate understands nothing about it is simple.

This isn’t a matter of unclear procedures. A few new paragraphs in the policy manual won’t handle it. Everyone already knew that it’s wrong to single out one group of people for ideological reasons. Nobody needs a regulatory update to understand that.

And worse, there appears to be a pattern of misusing government power. The Department of Justice’s surveillance of news reporters and its seizing of their telephone records goes beyond any steps the government has previously taken.

It claims to be looking for the source of classified leaks. But Justice Department officials could just as easily be using that as cover to hassle whistleblowers who give the news media information the public ought to know.

Scandals are nothing new and neither is misusing government power for political purposes. But before, it’s all been left inside the beltway. This time, more than just political elites are targeted.

When government uses its power to harass, intimidate and bully average citizens, it isn’t just a political scandal. It’s oppression.

“We must have the trust of the American taxpayer,” Werfel said. “Unfortunately, that trust has been broken.”

And it won’t be restored again until people are sure their government isn’t their enemy.